Burn and wound healing Suit and method

ABSTRACT

A burn/wound healing suit with circulating healing anesthetizing and antiseptic liquid. The healing suit is formed of modular parts, including a torso part, upper extremity parts, and lower extremity parts. Each modular part tapers at an end where it connects to another modular part, or seals at this end to be used individually. A connection part is a rigid tube that goes between the connecting parts to enable fluid connection between the different parts. The fluid is circulated by a pump, and heated and filtered to maintain a sterile environment.

This application claims priority from application No. 63/362,559, filedApr. 6, 2022, the entire contents of which are herewith incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND

A conventional treatment of wounds, such as burns, takes the burn/woundpatient, twice a day, to a wash station. At the wash station, thepatient's dressings are removed, and then the burn/wounds are scrubbedwith scrub brushes and antibacterial soap. After the burns/wounds arecleaned and dried, the wounds are then covered with silver sulfadiazine,also called “burn cream”, and then are re-dressed.

Treatment of these wounds in this way can be extremely painful to thepatients, and can be very difficult for the medical staff who need tocarry this out. The scrubbing, and antibacterial materials that areused, may reduce bacterial counts, but also may inhibit the healing,because the antibacterial concoctions which are used have typically beenshown to inhibit wound healing.

Burns/wounds which are particularly difficult to heal often result inskin grafting, which is a painful process that leaves significantscarring at the donor and recipient site.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventor recognized that there are a number of drawbacks with thecurrent systems and has conceived of and describes herein, an improveddesign for care of burns/wounds.

This inventor, during his one-year burn fellowship, observed beneath theburned tissue a living, healthy layer of deep skin (dermis) and/orsuperficial subcutaneous tissue with hair follicles. He observed this ineighty percent of excised and grafted burn patients. These deep layersare capable of regenerating a new skin or epidermis, avoiding excisionand grafting. This invention is designed to provide these deep layerswith an optimal medium for growing a new epidermis, akin to culturedskin cells grown on an optimal culture medium.

The present application describes a liquid tight suit that can cover apatient's extremities and torso but not the face. The suit is modular inthat different parts of the suit can be connected together or usedindividually. The suit is used as described herein to circulate a fluidthat can assist to heal the wounds, and relieve pain and preventinfection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the Drawings

The figures show aspects of the invention, and specifically:

FIG. 1 shows an overall diagram of the suit including the differentmodular parts connected together;

FIG. 2 illustrates a modular part specific for an upper extremity;

FIG. 3 illustrates a modular connection adapter;

FIG. 4 illustrates how 2 different parts are connected together usingthe connection adapter;

FIG. 5 illustrates how straps are used to hold the modular parts to theconnection adapter; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a rear view of the torso modular part showing therectal tube water tight opening.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present application describes a burn/wound healing suit, asdescribed herein. For purposes of this embodiment, the suit is describedas a burn/wound healing suit, intended to address wounds. However, itshould be understood, and it is contemplated within the presentapplication, that this system can and does also operate to assist withother kinds of wounds other than burn wounds.

Specific structure used as described herein, however is intended tocover not only the specific embodiments described herein, but thegeneral concept of the invention, including all predictablemodifications of these embodiments.

The present application describes a suit, referred to herein as aburn/wound healing suit, which can be used to cover one or more sectionsof a burn/wound patient's body, and to circulate the healing fluid tosections of the body. In embodiments, the healing fluid can include aloevera, or other non-caustic healing fluids, topical anesthetics, stemcells and non-toxic antiseptics.

FIG. 1 shows an overview of the suit. The suit covers all or part of apatient's body that is to receive the healing fluid. The suit 1 can be aneoprene or other suitable material of a thickness and material that hassome flexibility, but holds its shape to maintain a space between thesuit and the patient. The suit can be made in various sizes includingsmall, medium, large, XL, XXL and XXXL. The suit is also sealed invarious locations to form cavities to hold the circulating fluid. Anelastic rubber seal 2 is formed around the neck to seal at the necklocation. The suit opens and closes using a waterproof zipper, 3, suchas a Gore-Tex zipper or other waterproof or water-resistant closure. Byusing such a zipper, the suit can be applied comfortably, and removedand opened so that it can be cleaned.

A waterproof rubber opening 4 can be used to provide a conduit forvenous or arterial catheters, which can be maintained in the patient'sbody for an extended period of time. There are similarly, rubberopenings 5 which allow exit of bladder catheter.

The burn/wound suit is formed of multiple different connectablesections. A torso section 100 connects to upper extremity sections 105,110, and lower extremity sections such as 120. 125. A watertight seal106, described in further detail herein, seals between the individualsections. The watertight seal 106 can include a rigid adapter, rubberseals on each side, and Velcro fasteners over the seals, as explainedwith reference to FIGS. 3-5 .

These seals hold the different parts of the suit together, to enable thesuit to be easily put on and off of a burn/wound patient.

The suit receives the burn/wound healing fluid, also referred to hereinas a healing medium, over a tubing assembly shown as 8, received into aquick connect connector 7. The quick connect connector 7 is a watertightconnector attached to components of the burn/wound suit, which receivesthe healing fluid through the tubing 8. The healing fluid can also bereturned via return lines 98, each of which are also attached to one ofthe quick connect connectors 7.

There are a number of lines connected into and out of the suit. Eachline is fed off of main supply line 99 and is connected via aone-to-many adapter 97 which is then connected to the supply hoses, 8,each of which are connected to the suit. The return lines 98 connect viathe one-to-many connector 91 to the main return line 92. The return line92 connects to an exhaust fluid processing system. The exhaust fluidprocessing system includes a removable filter 10 which can extract thesloughed tissue from the patient, a heating element 11, which maintainsthe temperature of the healing fluid at an ideal temperature for thebody, and a ultraviolet sterilizer light 12, which sterilizes thehealing medium.

In embodiments, the heater 11 can be a tubular electric heater, or anykind of resistive heating element. The UV sterilizer 12 can be anultraviolet lamp inside a quartz sleeve with a retaining coupling.

The filtered, heated and sterilized medium is then passed into a mediumtank 13 which contains the ingredients that will be circulated throughthe unit. The tank 13 is connected via a hose system 94, to pump 14 thatcirculates the healing medium. The pump 14 can be connected viaelectrical power 95, and can also include a battery backup 15.

The suit 1, is formed of a number of modular parts which connecttogether. Different units of the modular part are intended for coveringdifferent body parts.

FIG. 2 illustrates a right upper extremity unit 105, and there will alsobe a separate left upper extremity unit. The extremity unit includes acasing 16 which is formed of neoprene, or other suitable material,having a thickness effective to allow the unit to have a certain amountof flexibility, but still maintains some rigidity forming a spacebetween the unit and the patient. The unit also includes a waterproofzipper 201 which allows opening the extremity unit to apply and removethe unit. The extremity unit includes rubber openings, 4, for catheterconduits, and output quick connect connectors for both input and outputof fluid. The sleeve is preferably large enough to surround the upperextremity maintaining a space between the unit and the skin. However, inthe area 17, the sleeve may taper to fit snugly near the axilla. Thesleeve can also connect to the torso unit A number of Velcro straps 18can be used to enhance the watertight seal in the area secured aroundthe taper area 17.

FIG. 3 illustrates the burn/wound unit connector adapter 19, formed of acylinder formed with rigid plastic, with supporting ribs.

FIG. 4 , illustrates the adapter 19 which is placed in the area 17underneath the tapered sleeves between two different modular parts ofthe suit, e.g, between the torso and the sleeve. The connector adapter19 ensures continuity of flow of the medium. A seal is enhanced bytightening the Velcro straps such as 18 to the outside surface of theconnector adapter 19 from both modular units, thus forming a watertightseal between those modular units.

FIG. 5 shows further detail of how these Velcro straps 18 surround andpress against the ends of the modular units.

FIG. 6 illustrates a posterior view of the torso portion of the unit,showing how this posterior view can have a watertight opening 20 in theposterior torso unit near the anus to allow insertion and exit of therectal tube 24. The rectal tube 24 is itself connected to a fecesreservoir 21 and evacuated by a vacuum device 22.

The modular units can include a torso unit as shown in FIG. 1 , upperextremity units, and lower extremity units.

In an embodiment, the circulating bath media can include one or more ofthe medium materials including aloe vera, hyaluronic acid, healing aminoacids, vitamins, tropical anesthetics, growth factors, chemical healingstimulants, antiseptics, and stem cells. The intent is for this healingsubstance to aid in healing, relieve pain and prevent infection, ratherthan to be a caustic substance as has been conventionally done.

The previous description of the disclosed exemplary embodiments isprovided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use thepresent invention. Various modifications to these exemplary embodimentswill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the genericprinciples defined herein may be applied to other embodiments withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the presentinvention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown hereinbut is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principlesand novel features disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fluid circulating suit assembly, comprising: asuit, formed generally in the shape of at least a part of the body, thesuit formed of a water tight material, and the suit having a watertightclosure, that is opened allowing it to wrap around a body part and isclosed to seal around the body part, the suit formed of the materialthat maintains a space between an inside surface of the suit, and thebody part in an area of the suit; the suit including plural differentfluid supply ports, supplying fluid into the space between the insidesurface of the suit and the body part, and plural different fluidexhaust ports, removing fluid that has passed in the space between theinside surface of the suit and the body part.
 2. The assembly as inclaim 1, wherein the fluid is a bath media that includes one or moremedium materials including aloe vera, hyaluronic acid, healing aminoacids, vitamins, tropical anesthetic, growth factors, chemical healingstimulants, antiseptics, and stem cells, and where the bath mediaincludes with no caustic substances.
 3. The assembly as in claim 1,further comprising a pump that circulates the fluid into the fluidsupply ports, and receives exhausted fluid from the fluid exhaust ports.4. The assembly as in claim 3, further comprising, an exhaust fluidprocessing system, comprising of a filter that removes particulates fromthe exhausted fluid, a heater that heats the exhausted fluid to a bodytemperature, and a sterilizer that sterilizes the exhausted fluid, theexhaust fluid processing system located between the exhaust ports andthe pump.
 5. The suit assembly as in claim 1, wherein the suit ismodular and formed of a number of modular parts that connect together,each modular part is shaped for covering a specific body part.
 6. Thesuit assembly as in claim 5, wherein the inside surface of the suit, andtapers at an end of the suit, where a first of the modular partsconnects to other modular parts.
 7. The suit assembly as in claim 6,wherein the taper area includes closure straps that tighten the taperarea further to enhance a water tight seal in the area of the taperarea.
 8. The suit assembly as in claim 7, further comprising a modularconnection adapter, formed of a rigid material, and enabling the closurestraps to tighten against the connection adapter to form a fluid tightseal against the connection adapter.
 9. The suit assembly as in claim 6,wherein the modular parts include at least a torso modular part forcovering a body torso, the torso modular part having taper areas atfirst and second upper extremity, first and second lower extremity, andat a neck area, and modular upper extremity parts, including a firstupper extremity part for a first upper extremity having a taper at anend of the first upper extremity where the first upper extremity partconnects to the taper area at the first upper extremity on the torsomodular part, and a second upper extremity part for a second upperextremity having a taper at an end of the first upper extremity wherethe second upper extremity part connects to the taper area at the secondupper extremity on the torso modular part.
 10. The suit assembly as inclaim 9, wherein the modular parts fit together and are tightenedtogether relative to one another at areas of the taper.
 11. The suitassembly as in claim 1, further comprising at least at least onecatheter port.
 12. The suit assembly as in claim 11, wherein the watertight rubber opening is for a rectal tube, and further comprising afeces reservoir and a vacuum device evacuating material from the rectaltube into the feces reservoir.
 13. A fluid circulating suit assembly,comprising: a first modular suit part, formed generally in the shape ofa first part of the body, the first modular suit part formed of a watertight material, and the first modular suit part having a watertightclosure, that is opened to allow wrapping around the body part and isclosed to seal around the body part, the suit formed of the materialthat maintains a space between an inside surface of the suit, and thebody part in an area of the first modular suit part; the first modularsuit part having at least one end at least at one end of the firstmodular suit part; a second modular suit part, formed generally in theshape of a second part of the body different than the first part of thebody, the second modular suit part formed of the water tight material,and the second modular suit part having a watertight closure, that isopened to allow going around the body part and is closed to seal aroundthe body part, the suit formed of the material that maintains a spacebetween an inside surface of the suit, and the body part in an area ofthe second modular suit part; the second modular suit part having atleast one end at least at one end of the second modular suit part; amodular connection adapter, formed of a rigid material, and locatedinside the first modular suit part at one of the ends and inside thesecond modular suit part at the at least one end, closure straps totighten against the connection adapter to form a fluid tight sealagainst the connection adapter on both the first modular suit part andthe second modular suit part, to form a fluid tight seal between thefirst modular suit part and the second modular suit part using themodular connection adapter.
 14. The suit assembly as in claim 13,wherein the first modular suit part covers a torso of the body, the endsof the first modular suit part are at a neck portion, upper extremityportions, and lower extremity portions, and the second modular suit partcovers an upper extremity of the body, and connects to one of said endsat said upper extremity portions.
 15. The suit assembly as in claim 13,wherein the modular suit parts include plural different fluid supplyports, supplying fluid into the space between the inside surface of thesuit and the body part, and plural different fluid exhaust ports,removing fluid that has passed in the space between the inside surfaceof the suit and the body part.
 16. The assembly as in claim 13, whereinthe fluid is a bath media that includes one or more medium materialsincluding aloe vera, hyaluronic acid, healing amino acids, vitamins,tropical anesthetic, growth factors, chemical healing stimulants, andantiseptics, and stem cells and where the bath media includes with nocaustic substances.
 17. The assembly as in claim 15, further comprisinga pump that circulates the fluid into the fluid supply ports, andreceives exhausted fluid that has exhausted from the fluid exhaustports.
 18. The assembly as in claim 17, further comprising, an exhaustfluid processing system, comprising a filter that removes particulatesfrom the exhausted fluid, a heater that heats the exhausted fluid to abody temperature, and a sterilizer that sterilizes the exhausted fluid,the exhaust fluid processing system located between the exhaust portsand the pump.
 19. The suit assembly as in claim 13, wherein the insidesurface of the first and second modular suit parts, and taper in taperareas at an end of the suit.
 20. The suit assembly as in claim 19,wherein the taper area includes closure straps that tighten the taperarea further to enhance a water tight seal in the area of the taperarea.